Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome back to Homestead Happenings!

Well, it's been a while.

I was having trouble getting pictures to load up

on my laptop, and I'm not sure how I figured out 

a different way, but we'll see how it goes.

I really am trainable!

This lone sunflower has been a major hub of activity

over the last week or so.

Although many, many sunflower seeds were planted,

for some reason this is the only one that showed up.

It could be the drought that we are still experiencing,

but it's just not been the same summer without them.

The Seminole pumpkins are doing well

and started to climb the arched cattle panel.

So far, we have no flowers, but I continue to hope

that we will be able to enjoy this fall treat.

This particular pumpkin stores very well.

Let me know if you'd like some seeds.

The bed where the onions grew is now seeded with

carrots and a few lettuce varieties.

I've grown carrots before, but had decided

that since organic carrots are so affordable at the store,

it's not really worth it to grow your own.

I changed my mind.

The boards and screen cover you see are 

left in place until the seeds germinate.

I learned that on GrowVeg,

one of my favorite YouTube gardening channels.

The secondary reason for the covers is to keep the chooks

from scratching up the seeds.

Let's see what pops up!

Some of the leeks have been harvested,

and these will be cleaned, chopped and put into

the freezer in glass jars.

They will come in handy during soup making season.

There's nothing better than homemade leek soup

on a cold wintry evening.

Having this wire rack out on the front porch worked out well.

Garlic, onions, and now the leeks can dry there

before being put into long term storage.

This corner of the porch stays dry and shaded,

so we'll use this method from now on.

I've been thinking of giving up on growing onions,

because the harvest seems so small and the fruit

does not seem to bulb up as expected.

This is our harvest this year (apart from some

which has been given away), which added up to

seven pounds.

They are fine looking bulbs, and I'm sure they will

taste great, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra bed space.

Leeks have always done better in my garden,

so time will tell if this veg makes it into next year's list.

This is my first ever homemade

elderberry syrup made from the land!

The honey is local (3 doors down),

and the recipe was SO simple!

The best tip was to pick the berries

when they are super dark,

place them in a container and freeze them

until you have enough to make a batch.

Once they are frozen, they are much easier to destem,

and fingers stay clean and dry.

This will be a yearly ritual now,

and there are still berries left on the bushes

for the chooks and the birds.

(I'm secretly thinking I need to make more room for elderberries.)

Another new venture in the kitchen

is this non-dairy ice cream recipe.

It uses water, almond butter, vanilla and maple syrup.

It is incredibly creamy tasting and because it

is so clean, it can be enjoyed anytime,

not just for a special occasion.

I can't wait to try new combinations!

The bread baking continues with my new obsession

of everything fresh-milled flour.

The flavor is amazing and knowing that this bread

is actually nourishing my body motivates me to explore

new recipes regularly.

The book below is one of my go-to sources

for easy to follow, simple recipes.

Our baby chooks are all grown up!

They are free ranging with the rest of the flock,

and will soon graduate into the big run

with the rest of the girls,

although they will continue to stay in their own coop.

In just a few weeks, they should be laying and

allowing us to share eggs with our neighbors and friends.

What a blessing these girls have been.

They actually seem to enjoy being together, share food without fighting,

and move as one unit when they are out foraging.

They could teach our older girls a thing or two 

about getting along.

So grateful to have been able to grow our flock

and that everyone is healthy and active.

It feels good to share on the blog again,

and I'm glad that at least for now,

things are working okay.

I missed writing, and it's important to me

to record my day-to-day garden adventures here.

It's the simple things in life that matter.

~daisy

Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome to Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's going on 

here on our Piedmont property.

Last week it felt so much like summer,

even though it is still days away,

but this week has been fairly mild,

which made it a pleasure to accomplish 

a few tasks outdoors.

This cattle panel arch will be soon supporting

our Seminole pumpkins.

This particular variety is less prone to trouble

with the vine borers that plague so many squash plants.

They store well and make a wonderful and hearty soup.

Garbanzo beans (also called chick peas),

are one of my favorite beans.

They are so versatile and I use them in everything

from hummus to salads to stews.

It makes sense to try to grow my own,

so I sprouted some in a bowl and planted them.

It's always exciting trying a new crop.

We'll see how it goes!

The new lettuce bed is making great progress,

thanks to some much needed rain.

Baby greens will be harvested in the next few days

and this bed should do an ample job of feeding me

for a couple of months.

I'm thinking of placing some sort of cover over the bed,

to keep the harshest of the sun's rays off of the plants.

It may be something as simple as a beach umbrella,

if that's all I can find to keep the crop cooler.

The straw will help with this objective.

It took me a minute,

but I finally remembered what had been planted in this pot.

It stayed in the garage over winter

and started to emerge over the past week.

It's turmeric, and it comes back

reliably, year after year.

Maybe I need to put a tag in there

so as not to strain the old noggin next year.

The garlic was harvested and is now curing 

on the front porch (see the photo below).

Out of 100 cloves planted,

we got about 50 bulbs.

A bit disappointing, as I grow for myself and sister,

but we are cooking less and less, so it will be enough.

Two new areas in the ground were used this season,

so perhaps the soil was not ideal.

We'll try a new spot in the fall and hope for the best.

Here on the front porch,

a rack was set up to cure the garlic, leek and onions,

as well as dry some herbs like lemon balm and rosemary.

We had been using the garage for curing,

until I thought about the emissions from the cars,

and decided to make a change.

When you learn better, you do better.

This lavender is bursting with blooms!

What a delight to brush up against it

and take in the fragrance.

Even I can smell it,

and I can't smell much these days.

I'm thinking about drying some of it

so that I can make something with the dried flowers and stems.

This low maintenance plant does quite well

with very little water and absolutely no fertilizer.

What a dream!

Garden Friday

 

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday!

Autumn is finally here,

and you'll find no one more excited about that than yours truly.

Fall is such a great time to be in the garden,

whether it's sowing cool weather crops or picking what nature has provided to enjoy inside.

 

Sweet potatoes were harvested this week.

We got 14.5 pounds, which isn't bad, 

considering we planted only one small bed.

 

The tubers in this crop were smaller than in past years,

and they seemed to grow more in clusters, instead of individually.

The slips were started in February,

so this was a long process from seed to table.

 

They will cure in the garage for two weeks before being sampled.

We're using a hitch-haul and the bifold door that I use to use at the Market.

 

Some time was spent earlier in the season on planting the front flower beds.

I've added quite a few things and seeded many zinnias.

In fact, they grew so big,

that the evergreens and grasses behind them are well hidden.

 

Every morning when I open up my curtain,

I look down into this beautiful display of flowers and busy pollinators.

I even noticed a goldfinch eating bugs off of the milkweed!

The zinnias just went wild with the rainfall we got.

They are filling in the front bed so wonderfully.

 

 

Seed saving continues,

with flower seeds and dried beans making their way into our stash for next season.

It's a tranquil and fastidious task

that can be savored with the anticipation of future harvest.

 

The Seminole pumpkin has grown outside of its bed.

It's still too early to know if fruit will show itself,

but we'll leave it be for now.

The Piggot peas have started producing,

and I'm curious to learn more about them.

This is a new crop for me,

but so far, they have been easy to grow.

We're even getting some late-planted cucumbers coming up.

 

We've got visitors, folks!

Although we were not blessed with Monarch caterpillars this year,

a few black swallowtails were spied on the Rue.

This no-fuss plant is one of the host plants for this species.

What wonders have the fall season brought you?

 

Garden Friday

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday.

It's been a quiet scene at our homestead

with two of the three members of our family

coming down with what we think was surely COVID.

It laid us out for a full 10 days,

so there wasn't much to report.

Thankfully, we are well on our way back to health. 

 

tastes like zucchini!

great for cleaning once dried and peeled

 

The loofah is creating a wonderful amount of shade in the chook run,

and the pollinators are relishing the bounty of nectar.

The fruit is hanging from the vines in various stages.

I'm planning on picking a few of the small loofah

for fresh eating.

The larger ones will be dried on the vine

and given away to be used as scrubbers.

 

Another volunteer something or other is getting started.

It looks like a pumpkin, but it's too early to tell.

The last time something like this volunteered,

I thought it was watermelon,

but it turned out to be a pumpkin.

It's always fun to spy the female flowers

and guess at what it may become.

 

We do have a few Kajari melons coming along.

I had pretty much given up on these doing anything,

but here they are surprising me once again.

 

The Piggot peas and cukes are doing nicely,

thanks to a few downpours we've had in recent days.

These were transplanted around the 10th of August.

It's still hot and humid, so we may still get some fruit.

We've had over an inch of rain so far this week,

after three weeks with nary a drop.

More storms are on their way,

with a cooling in temperatures on the horizon.

We are ready for it!

 

The Seminole pumpkin seems quite content,

and was transplanted around the same time as the Piggot peas.

Once the rain hit, it took off like nobody's business! 

Not sure if we'll have enough warm days ahead to get fruit,

but it will be sown again in the spring.

 

The mottled leaves are so decorative.

 

The birdhouses were cleaned out a couple of weeks ago.

It's always a marvel to see how the nests tucked inside are constructed.

 

The chook feathers have obviously been instrumental

in creating a cozy place to raise young.

I can imagine how soft they would be.

 

The cannas were overrun by Japanese beetles earlier in the season,

and the leaves were such a mess.

A bit of trimming brought them back to life.

These will come up every year and spread below ground.

They also provide some shade for the chooks on this end of the run.

 

The hyacinth bean vine along the north side of the chook fencing

is loaded with blooms.

The butterflies, bees and even hummers savor their delightful ambrosia.

This vine never disappoints.

Maybe next year I'll set up teepees for them to grow on.

 

 We lost our sweet Jubilee recently

in a most sorrowful and tragic way.

She was a raven-feathered beauty

with a patina like no other.

Her loss has been a difficult lesson to learn,

as I feel it was preventable.

Please pray that she is at peace.

 She is so missed.

 

 I may not be posting for a couple of weeks,

as I will be pup sitting.

Blessings...daisy